


winter is getting longer

by imsodumbmister



Category: Cobra Starship, The Academy Is...
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Death, Freezing, Freezing to death, Ghosts, Heartbreak, I do my best to write trauma as someone who doesn't have it, Lmk if it's offensive please, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Trauma, dying young
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27772228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imsodumbmister/pseuds/imsodumbmister
Summary: everything's frozen stillbeautiful things no longergive me the chills
Relationships: William Beckett/Gabe Saporta
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Bright white. All around William, everything had been bright white, closing in on him, cold and sparklingly clean. To this day, more than half a century later, it still frightens him to think about his death. It had happened in 1950; a twenty year old boy, walking alone in the woods to his “friend’s house” (William always rolls his eyes at this part; he was gay, and everyone knew he had been visiting his lover), when he got lost, eventually giving up hope and freezing to death. The story is still told in William’s town today, in 2005. 2005. Sighing, he gazes at the ground, flinching as snow begins to fall. He never gets used to the snow.

The part of the story that no one knows is that his ghost is still trapped in that forest, restless and unable to move on to the afterlife. Even William is unclear on the reason why his soul has been stuck in purgatory for fifty-five years. He just… wanders the scene of his death, trying to ignore the pain brought each year by the area’s dreadful snowstorms.

Nobody has ever been able to see William, on the rare chance that they walk by. And then, the boy comes. He brings some other boys, and a girl their age as well. From the bits of their conversation William is able to make out, he guesses that they’re some sort of a band. Wistfully, he wonders how music has changed since his time, what it’s like today. Physically, he’s the same age as this handsome boy with the dark hair and the winning smile, but he has been on Earth for much longer. William sighs again, as he often does, loud and dramatic. No one can hear him, after all, so he can be as whiny as he would like. Except, this time, someone does hear him.

“Did you guys hear that?”, the handsome boy asks loudly. The girl looks at him strangely. “Hear what, Gabe?” Gabe. The boy’s name is Gabe. “Gabe.”, William echoes, feeling the name on his tongue. Gabe’s eyes widen even more at this. “Uh, you guys go on ahead,” William hears him tell his bandmates, “I have a headache, so I’ll just stay behind for a minute.” Everyone reluctantly agrees, and Gabe walks over to where William is waiting. He grins, satisfied with himself, when he sees him. “I knew someone was here! Wait. Are you a ghost?”

William rolls his eyes at this obvious question, but for some reason he can’t help the soft smile that comes on his face as he responds, “Well, duh.” Gabe laughs. William laughs too. He hasn’t laughed in decades. It feels nice. “I guess I’m higher than I thought.”, Gabe giggles to himself. “Seeing ghosts.” He walks on. William’s heart breaks a little bit. I love you, he thinks as Gabe walks on through the snow.


	2. Chapter 2

The next time Gabe sees William’s ghost, many years have passed. William isn’t exactly sure of how many, as trying to keep track of time has begun to just depress him at this point. He knows that a lot of time has passed, however, because Gabe walks by without his band or any friends.

He looks middle-aged at this point, and his clothing isn’t brightly coloured anymore. William thinks he’s beautiful. He calls out to him, and once again, Gabe turns his head. “Holy shit,” he murmurs. “Were... were you real?”

A light blush dusts William’s cheeks as he nods. “I-I’m William,” he adds, as if it explains anything, and Gabe’s mouth forms a small, shocked “o”-shape. “What?”

“You just.. you look and talk a lot like this man I know,” he says in a wistful way that tells William he has deep feelings for this man, and maybe that he misses him. “And,” he goes on as William listens eagerly, “his name is William, too.”


End file.
